Featured Signed Snuff Bottles - Artist Information Resources

I found two signed snuff bottles. I tried doing research on the one with the English name and got nowhere. Does anyone know of a site where reverse painted snuff bottle artists are identified? The one with the koi is absolutely wonderful. The painted interior is cased in highly, polished clear glass. The level of detail as you can see is astonishing. It is 3 inches tall and 5.1 ounces. The smaller one is also lovely and more ethereal. It is 3 inches tall and only 1.1 ounce.

Any thoughts are as always appreciated. Please note the last picture with the spoon is in next post.

 

Do koi have whiskers like catfish?

 

Absolutely. I go to a restaurant that has a large pond with older koi. If I'm lucky I get a table and watch them. They love to people watch too.

 

I had one of these. I believe they are from the 60s to 70s. I couldn't find what it said on mine. I believe I sold mine around the 20.00 dollar range.

 

Have you made any assumptions about the date?

 

I was afraid of that.

 

Hmmm. You think that the date is wrong? I assumed the one was from 2000. Is that wrong?

 

No I don't think it's wrong. I just wondered if you thought it was. Or was not an indication of date of origin but something else - like a date of gift.

 

My interest in that one was the signature and date. I haven't seen this before. Not an anonymous or character mark, but an English name and date.
I don't collect snuff bottles except for some Mongolian snuff bottles. I came across these two and found them interesting because the artist signed them. I know nothing.

 

You think Anne was the artist?

 

Interesting idea. I just assumed that. Perhaps, it was a gift and Anne is the giftee. Maybe that's why I couldn't find anything about her as an artist. I have no history except these were donated together.

 

I bet your Anne went to Hong Kong on holiday and had that personalised. It's quite a common thing there.

 

Excellent. I had no idea. This makes it more special by far. Thank you.

 

These are being made today. If you want to gift one to someone and personalize it, you can ask the artist to add the name to the bottle. Very common items made for tourists these days as they were when I arrived in China in the early 1980s.

 

What a lovely idea. You can enjoy the beauty of the artist's work and remember the giver or the experience. I have a hard enough time painting a wall much less the interior of bottle, so this kind of thing has always been fascinating. Do you think the koi one is of the same iteration, but with the name in Chinese characters?

 

They are both lovely, but the one with the Koi, is by far....Superior!!!!!!! At least it is....to ME!!!

 

I can't agree more. The tactile sensation is also very awesome.

 

I agree. Inside painted bottles are always attractive and it is amazing that a painter can create an image with a special brush through a small opening, but there are huge differences in quality.
A rubbery stopper with a red top like on the crane bottle means serial production. Factory painters will paint series of crane bottles, peony bottles, kitten bottles, etc.
A tourist's name is not really a bonus. An added date helps knowing the age of the bottle, but it doesn't influence the value of a souvenir.

What looks like a signature can be a title of the painting or a date. Actual signatures on factory painted bottles can't be found in the registers of artist painters, because those bottles are decorative, not fine art.

However, artist painted bottles are very collectible and can be very valuable.
Here is some info on artist painted snuff bottles:
https://www.ddartwork.com/post/the-...ng-chinese-snuff-bottle-a-collectible-novelty

 

I didn't get snuff bottles in HK, but I did get other personalised stuffs with Chinese characters. I've my carved chop in soapstone with my Zodiac horse.